WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obamasaid Monday that local forces should be the main forces to fight the extremist group the Islamic State (IS) and currently there was no plan for his administration to send more U.S. troops abroad.
Obama told reporters after being briefed by U.S. military leadership on the status of U.S.-led coalition campaign that to succeed in the long-term fight against the IS, "we have to develop local security forces that can sustain progress."
"This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign," said Obama. "ISIL is opportunistic, and it is nimble." ISIl is another acronym of the extremist group.
Meanwhile, Obama said the training of local anti-IS forces, touted by the administration as the linchpin of the U.S. anti-IS strategy together with air strikes, "was moving too slowly," echoing previous remarks made by U.S. military leadership that U.S. training efforts in Iraqagainst IS "have far been slowed."
The rare visit to the Pentagon came as Obama, though insisting he would not send U.S. "boots on the ground", was enhancing the U. S. military involvement in Iraq to help combat IS fighters by adding another 450 military trainers and advisors to help Iraqi troops to retake Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, which fell to IS in May.
Currently, there are about 3,550 U.S. military personnel in Iraq.
Obama's anti-IS strategy came under scrupulous scrutiny after the fall of the crucial Iraqi city Ramadi. As IS suicide bombers were approaching Ramadi in May, Iraqi forces stationed in the city fled without fighting. After the incident, the U.S. military let out a gush of criticism, accusing the Iraqis of lacking "will to fight."
Also, after the incident, Obama admitted in June that nine months into the U.S.-led coalition's campaign against the IS, there was not a complete strategy to combat the group.
